The founder of a finance and investment marketplace has urged small businesses and their brokers to use the intersection of COVID and the new financial year as an opportunity to reassess and update their business strategies.
According to Marketlend CEO Leo Tyndall, a thorough assessing of the company’s financial position is the necessary place to start, whether through enlisting the aid of an independent accountant or creating a strategic budget. Only then can one successfully reassess their strategic plan.
“To be successful and achieve growth, it is important to plan ahead,” said Tyndall.
“Review the business’ short-term and long-term goals and evaluate the current strategy to see if they are aligned.”
The key, as Tyndall sees it, is to use customer perception and feedback to identify gaps in the product or service offering, before adapating to make the most of potential opportunities in the current environment.
Additionally, given the events of the past few months, it has never been more important to review technological processes.
“Adopting new technology is usually not a priority for business owners. However, it is clear from the rapid changes that had to be implemented due to COVID-19 that businesses need to be prepared and have systems in place for the future,” said Tyndall.
“Continually adapt and make incremental changes by using updated technology to streamline your processes. As SMEs we want to reduce stress, improve working methods and save time.”
However, perhaps most importantly, small businesses need to think through their sustainable cash flow options.
“For small and medium sized businesses arm wrestling with cash flow, consideration should be given to options accommodating both immediate and long-term support," said Tyndall.
One such option is Marketlend’s offering UnLock, a ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ method which can extend supplier terms from 30, 60 to 90 days, freeing up a businesses’ cash flow to be redirected to staff wages rather than supplier and agency invoices and commercial rent, while simultaneously preventing the need to take out more debt.
